brought me aba-57. it was really a team effort where the citied that idea of we need to work together to solve this problem. this is a state-wide problem. we have 134,000 homeless people in the state. it is a state of crisis. we have 7500 people here in san francisco. but these people aren't numbers. they're lives. they're lives that missed different paths, that have taken very challenging directions. but we as a city have not given up on them. we as a state have not given up on them and only by working together and solving this problem together can we really move this issue forward. cal trans has been great because cal trans told me they spent, i believe, almost $10 million last year or the year before to just move homeless people off their property. homeless encampments up and down the state were under

freeways. everywhere. i would drive under the 101 and the chavez interchange and drop off my daughter at school every day and you would see a line of tents. so, cal trans said, hey, instead of us using all this money to move people off, figure out another way to be part of the solution. it doesn't help when you move people off the lot and they come back three days later and we have to move them off. it doesn't get them any closer to housing. by cal trans, myself and the legislature, appropriating $10 million for two navigation centers, working together with mayor breed, with mayor lee, with supervisor ronen and the city family to really solve this issue, we have moved one step closer. and other people are taking notice. because navigation centers aren't just happening here in san francisco. they're happening in santa rosa. they're happening in seattle and happening in austin. because it is not about housing. it's about people. it's about making sure that people are getting help with

their addictions. with their mental health. s with helping with their job training. it's all about how we are assisting each individual, each one of those 7500 people that have families. they come from somewhere. they are going somewhere. and this city and this state is not going to let them fail. so w that, again, i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership on this issue. so excited to see this navigation center up and running. i want to thanks, again, supervisor ronen, late mayor ed lee and it is my pleasure to bring up the new director of cal trans, larry berman. because their agency played a critical role at making sure that this happened by working with me on aba-57, cal trans has worked out a deal with the city and county of san francisco to lease up to 10 properties at far below market rate. this being one of them. and they again have stepped up to the plate. not being part of the problem, being part of the solution. so thank you, laurie and thank you to cal trans. [applause]

>> thank you. good morning. i want to start by saying congratulationss to our new mayor of san francisco. mayor london breed. [applause] >> yeah! >> i am really honored for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the california department of transportation. to express our appreciation for the collaboration with the city of san francisco, with homeless advocates, with private donors and community members to address one of the greatest crises of our day and that is homelessness. cal trans and the city of san francisco share a commitment to public sthafs predates all of us here today. but it is good when we can continue to work together to solve big problems. we are really proud to work with the city of san francisco for today's ribbon cutting of the division circlele, navigation center which is also dedicated to the memory of homeless advocate brian quinn who passed away in april. we are proud of our commitment

to develop sustainable transportation solutions in san francisco and we appreciate our great partnership with the city of san francisco to sustain vibrant communities. in the next few year, cal trans has many repaving jobs that will be delivered through dedicated transportation funds from senate bill 1, the road repair and accountable act of 2017 and this year, senate bill 1 is paying for projects that are revamp several bridges and overcrossings along highway 101, including wider six-inch striping to increase visibility and safety. the department of transportation is planning for the growths of california's population, economy and emerging technologies that will be used on the state highway system to transport people, goods and services. we are also working with our local partners throughout california to help address an issue facing many californians and that is homelessness. this project, the san francisco navigation center, along with the site at 5th and bryants, represents a step in the right direction.

the van nuys center is an innovative approach to help address the homelessness crisis. this project required commitment from local and state governments, private donor, grassroots organizations and countless volunteers. we must all think outside the box to address california's homeless epidemic and that is exactly what this project has delivered -- a fresh approach. we are commited to helping in every way that we can and we are proud of what we have achieved with today's project and i want to particularly thank the innovative thinkers in the city of san francisco and cal trans who worked together to address the challenges of delivering this project on state right-of-way. and i also want to really thank cal tran staff who worked very hard on this project. this is not what cal trans normally does with our right-of-way. but i wanted to especially thank our senior right-of-way agent who was our point person

on this project. and thank you to the staff at san francisco department of housing and public works and san francisco's department of homelessness and supportive housing. i look forward to our quonlted -- continued partnership with the city of san francisco to xraet a transportation system that enhances california's economy while also working with communities throughout our state to make every california city a better place to live. working together, we can solve big problems. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. i'm the executive director of st. vincent depaul. we have been a long-standing, nonprofit in the city and county of san francisco since 1860. our mission is to offer hope and service on a direct person-to-person basis, working to the break the cycles of homelessness and domestic violence. we want to thank our partners today for the beautiful navigation center and what we

are able to accomplish with 125 clients that are with us. at this time, i want to introduce representative ronen's representative from her office, carolina morales, considered a bridge builder and political organizer, advancing domestic si. she has over a decade of experience in community health, services and community organizing nicker tiffs. she has built and managed programs, wrote and managed grants and restructured an organization. she has been our key person from the supervisor ronen's office. [applause] >> hi, everybody. good morning. i'm catalina morales with hillary ronen. so, six years ago, when the district nine office began our work to build this first ever navigation center in san francisco, we immediately recognized the division circle site as a perfect place for

another navigation center. last year, when the supervisor took office, and our tent encampment crisis was at its worst, we have about 250 tents concentrated in the mission as ground zero for our crisis, we knew that we had to do a lot more. we started work with the neighbors to ensure that we could open a navigation center. we worked with ed lee very closely to ensure that all of the partners were really working together. and in that partnership, another very important department was the san francisco police department. our chief, chief scott, our commander lazhar, and our captain have been important partners in ensuring that those homeless residents and house residents feel safe as we share

spaceing to and make sure that everybody gets dignify housing. so i want to repeat the words that mayor breed and assembly member tang have repeated. this has been unprecedented collaboration that has been very, very effective. we think supervisor tang for partnering with us and granting us this massive amount of money to ensure that we are serving our most vulnerable people in the mission in ground zero for the tent encampment crisis and with that, i want to once again honor the memory of ed lee and his commitment to building more navigation center, those in the mission and in our city. this is our way forward. this is the way that we will solve the tent encampment cry theys we? -- that we have in san francisco and make even california. thank you for your time. [applause] >> so, we've had many successful stories from those who have visited with us at the navigation center. so, i'd like the introduce you

to anna. she has been a long-time member, resident of san francisco. and due to her life experiences, she recently became homeless and we just worked with her and she is now housed. [cheering] [applause] >> good morning, everyone. and thank you all for coming out here. i want to thank the navigation center and mayor ed lee and now our present mayor. thank you to staff. i -- i'm an ex-postal employee and i never thought i'd become homeless. it's sad, but thanks to the navigation center, i'm now housed and i'm living at 6th street. i'm very happy. i was there 35 years ago. and so i feel that i've made a complete circle.

i'm back and it is a good feeling because i know that i'm where i'm supposed to be. thank you all. [applause] >> are you going to do the robin? >> and now we'll cut the rick bonn. -- ribbon. >> ok. now we're going to cut the ribbon. afterwards, if anyone is interested in a tour, let me know and we'll do a nice quick little tour through the navigation center. >> here we go! five, four, three, two, one!

>> i came to san francisco in 1969. i fell in love with this city and and this is where i raised my family at. my name is bobbie cochran. i've been a holly court resident for 32 years. i wouldn't give up this neighborhood for nothing. i moved into this apartment one year ago. my favorite thing is my kitchen. i love these clean walls. before the remodeling came

along, the condition of these apartments had gotten pretty bad, you know, with all the mildew, the repairs. i mean you haven't seen the apartment for the program come along. you wouldn't have believed it. so i appreciate everything they did. i was here at one point. i was. because i didn't know what the outcome of holly court was going to be. you know, it really got -- was it going to get to the point where we have to be displaced because they would have to demolish this place? if they had, we wouldn't have been brought back. we wouldn't have been able to live in burn. by the program coming along, i welcome it. they had to hire a company and they came in and cleaned up all the walls. they didn't paint the whole apartment, they just cleaned up the mildew part, cleaned up and

straighted it and primed it. that is impressive. i was a house painter. i used to go and paint other people's apartments and then come back home to mine and i would say why couldn't i live in a place like that. and now i do. >> greetings, everyone. thank you for being here for grand opening of the minna lee. this is 50 new units of permanent supportive housing of the 1300 units that we have in our pipeline. [applause] i want to thank the mayor for her leadership in ensuring that we have a robust housing pipeline, permanent supportive housing pipeline for people experiencing homelessness. as i said, we have 1300 more units that we'll be opening in the coming years and before we

officially get started and hear from the mayor, i just want to say a few thank yous. thank you to the owners of the building who worked with us so hard to master lease the site. [applause] and folks from the departments of real estate for their work in making the lease happen. thank you all very much. [applause] and, of course, staff from the department of homelessness and supportive housing, i want to thank nina and her staff for making this building happen and all the other staff and grace and margo for helping the tenants rent up. by the way, there is a 50-unit building and even though today is our grand opening, we have 48 residents living here. that will be fully rented out next week. [applause] and i just want to also a special shout-out to nina because many people tried to make this happen. i wanted to rename is building the nina lee but she gets mad

when i say that. [laughter] and i wanded to see her make that face. of course, ours nonprofit partners, dish and e.c.s. for operating the building. [applause] and most of all, our new residents. the new members of our community who are living in this building, who will be part of this community and part of this neighborhood and will help make both the building and the neighborhood a better place to live. thank you all to the residents who are here today. let's hear it for the residents again. [applause] ok. and without further ado, it is my great honor to introduce mayor london breed. thank you. >> wow. 50 new, affordable housing units in san francisco. this is going to mean a lot for 50 residents. [applause] people who, sadly, have been struggling with homelessness right here on our streets in this city.

and we know that although this is amazing for the 48 people who have already moved in to minna lee, we know that there are still more work to do for so many more people who need housing. today is a celebration. it is an opportunity to just shine a light on the fact that it takes a village. it takes a village to create an opportunity like this. to make sure that we not only renovated this building, that we find the funding to do so, but more importantly, that we make this place a home for the people who are moving in. and making sure that they have the support, and many of your programs, to be successful. al sex here today and i know you will be hearing from him, one of the new residents of this complex. alex had a lot of challenges. he will tell us a little bit about what those challenges

were. sadly living on our streets, feeling hopeless, feeling like no one cared. and here he is, one of the residents at, many inna lee who is going to come before us and tell us his story. let's give alex a hand. [applause] many of you know that my top priority as mayor is addressing this homeless crises. grew up in the city. i grew up in public housing. and the conditions of where i lived were not very comfortable. the busted pipes. the violence. the challenges in the neighborhood. the feeling that nobody cared was just normal life for me. but i had a roof over my head. i had a grandmother who raised me and who cared about me. i had her support and it meant everything for my success. and that is what housing has to

be about. not just providing a place for people to stay and to be housed, but opening the door to opportunity so that not only can they get the housing that they need, but they can be successful and hold on to that housing. one person at a time. making sure that we make the right kinds of investments in places like minna lee for the purposes of supporting our community who needs it the most. this is a new way of doing housing here in san francisco. we have actually, in our inventory, have over 7500 units of supportive housing and we have 1300 units in the pipeline. that is to, again, help people get housed and keep them housed and make sure they have the housing they need to be successful. i want to take this opportunity

because it does take a village to make sure that this happens and a fierce champion with a homeless outreach team and who deals with several text messages a day from me asking for help who i know need help. the department of homelessness -- [applause] you know what i love about jeff is every time i text him about somebody i want him to help, he actually, in most cases, he knows their names. he knows theirs stories. he knows whats going on with the situation and why something so difficult. and that is exactly what we need to address each of these unique situations that some people are struggling with. so i'm really grateful for his service and the work that he's done. of course i want to thank the department of real estate. i want to thank the department of building inspection for moving faster than they typically do to get this project done.

the department of public works. the city attorney's office and everyone, the nonprofit partners who have assisted the episcopal community services, which is operating this facility. and delivering innovative, supportive housing, which is managing the property. thank you to dish and others who are going to be a part of making sure that this property is successful and the residents who live here. so thank you all so much. and we know that the solutions to addressing our crises is making sure that we build more housing and provide opportunity, we provide the support and we work together to deliver projects sooner rather than later like minna lee. congratulations on this major accomplishment and thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you very much, madame

mayor. now it is my honor to bring up beth stokes, the executive director of the episcopal community services. [applause] >> thank you, jeff. and thank you, mayor breed, for your leadership and continued focus. on solutions to ending chronic homelessness such as the minna lee. i want to echo something that the mayor just said, that this today is a celebration. it reallile is a celebration of ms. folks coming together and i'm going to be brief and thank a few folks. the minna lee is a celebration of 50 more solutions. in our collective effort toward ending chronic homelessness in san francisco. and that is something to celebrate for sure. i'd like to thank our partners, s.h.s. and to echo everything that the mayor just said about a team coming together, a true partnership and that was h.s.h. and dish. specifically, again, i would

like to thank jeff for his leadership and his drive to really kind of open every door and really tackle every issue, like kicking down the door to make things happen. it takes courage. and i really want to thank you, jeff, for your continued coverage and our efforts together. thank you. i want to thank terry abbott. i know she was new on to the scene. i want to thank her for her leadership. i want to thank margo ancanetti who has always been there in the supportive housing realm and has guided us and has been a true partner. and, of course, there is the dish tale. i really want to thank you guys. special thank you to lauren and to doug. and their leadership of dish who never lost sight of what the minna lee could be. you guys always hung on to this building and always saw what you guys see before you today. and there is -- i just want to say an incredible amount of effort was taken on by dish over the years to have the vision to see what you see

today, which is 50 new homes. and that is incredible. i'd also like the thank u.c.f. staff and that is tracy, scott, travis and in deep cooperation with anna. anna, raise your hand. [applause] anna has been instrumenttal in launching e.c.s. services both at this site and right down the street at the auburn, which was opened i believe january and february. with that, enough about e.c.s. and us. i want to introduce you to alex who now calls the minna lee home. welcome. >> hello. >> hi, alex. >> it's a nice neighborhood.

thank you. that's all i'm going to say. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you very much, alex, for sharing. and alex and i met when he with standing in an encampment out on the streets and ended up in the nav center and now is living here, which is exactly the way the system is supposed to work. so let's close it out with the people who do the work on the front lines work really hard. they are amazing people. they're angels that walk among us and we're blessed and honored to have denise rigens, the general manager of this building that will share a few words with us. [applause] >> all right! so, god, this feels like a really -- just a beautiful day. and i just can't wait to now

build community and bringing our tenants home, safety, caring and love. especially during these times. and so i'm just truly humbled by that. and that i get to be a part of that. so i'd like to thank you, mayor breed, for being here with us. and supervisor kim and also h.s.h. for the opportunity and support for this amazing project. we're still working on the finishing touches because really what our first priority was to make sure that we provided people a home. we want to thank our e.c.s. coordinated entry team and e.c.s. as well and support services team for the fabulous coordination and partnership and shout-out to the whole dish team. you guys are remarkable and i'm so proud to be a part and work alongside of you. and we also like to thank our dish advisory board and ties for keeping us on track. [laughter] so this project demonstrate our

collective capacity and to end con kick homelessness and in partnership with e.c.s. and n.s.h. we have paved the pathway home by removing barriers to housing. ours tenants moved in the day they came in for their intake appointment -- [applause] and basically avoided the traditional hurdle that can keep many of our tenants who are vulnerable on the street. so with that, i'd like to thank everyone for being here today. thank you.

>> this neighborhood was lived for approximately 22 years. >> yeah, like 21 years. >> 21 years in this neighborhood. >> in the same house. >> we moved into this neighborhood six months after we got married, actually. just about our whole entire married life has been here in excel. >> the owner came to the house and we wanted to sell the house and we were like, what? we were scared at first. what are we going to do? where are we going to move into? the kids' school? our jobs? >> my name is maria. i'm a preschool teacher for the san francisco unified school

district. >> my name is ronnie and i work in san francisco and i'm a driver from a local electrical company. >> we went through meta first and meta helped us to apply and be ready to get the down payment assistant loan program. that's the program that we used to secure the purchase of our home. it took us a year to get our credit ready to get ready to apply for the loan. >> the whole year we had to wait and wait through the process and then when we got the notice, it's like, we were like thinking that. >> when we found out that we were settling down and we were going to get approved and we were going to go forward, it was just a really -- we felt like we could breathe. we have four kids and so to find a place even just to rent for a

family of six. and two dogs. >> we were going to actually pay more for rent and to own a house. >> it feels good now to have to move. it feels for our children to stay in the neighborhood that they have grown in. they grew up here and they were born here. they know this neighborhood. they don't know anything outside san francisco. >> we really have it. >> we'd love to say thank you to the mayor's office. they opened a door that we thought was not possible to be opened for us. they allowed us to continue to live here. we're raising our family in san francisco and just to be able to continue to be here is the great lesson. >> ok. so, good evening, everyone. my name is vivian po. i'm the communications director for assessor carmen chiu and i wanted to take this opportunity

to thank you for being here. and i would like the introduce our host for tonight, assessor carmen chiu. she is the only asian-american assessor across the state of california. and she is definitely one of our women leaders in the city. so, may i present assessor carmen chiu. [applause] >> hello! welcome, everybody, to san francisco's women equality day kickoff! [cheering] [applause] i don't know if folks know what the history of women's equality day is, but it is to simply do this -- to remember and to celebrate when women fought for right to vote and the passage of the 19th amendment. i tried remembering the first time that i voted and i think i must have just turned 18 at the time. when i started to do the ballot -- fill out the ballot and to vote, i remember thinking i don't know any of these people. i don't know any of these measures. and i don't think that that was

something that was unusual for someone who came from an immigrant family who i think my parents never voted until after i voted, actually. and so it's one of these things that we say, when we think about why it is so important to vote, it's because we have the opportunity to vote for people who represent us in government, whether it's local government or all the way to the highest level in our federal government. because these individuals pass laws and make decisions on how we govern how we live our lives, who we can marry, the air we breathe. that is why today i'm so proud to be here, to kick off not only women's equality day but also the w challenge. so, what is the w challenge? i want everybody to go when you can today to wchallenge.org. the goal is simple. it's to raise women's voices, to show that across the city, across issues, across ideology, we are united when it comes to

getting women out to vote and the importance of getting women out to vote. the way it works is this -- we can all do something about this. we each individually, not only pledge to vote, but we pledge to get one more woman registered to vote and bring one more woman with us to the ballot. so, with that, i'd love to introduce our next speaker. she is no stranger to paving the way and fighting for our values. our san francisco values. she was the first woman to serve as speaker of the house in u.s. history, our democratic leader nancy pelosi! [cheering] [applause] >> thank you very much, carmen. it is an honor to be here with you and so many women leaders in our community. thank you. madame mayor, honor to be with you. i was recalling on the way here when carmen was a supervisor, assessor chiu was a supervisor. we walked her district and with

katie tang who would then become the supervisor. so katie nice to see you, too. congratulations, carmen. look at these women. london breed, the mayor of san francisco! [applause] carmen chiu, the assessor of our city. and katie tang, supervisor. she was a staff person then and on then on to the supervisor following in carmen's wonderful footsteps. we're joined by the sheriff katie -- vicky hennessy. we're so blessed in our community with so many wonderful leader and you'll hear from more. debbie meslo from the commission ton status of women. the list goes on and on. but here we are. the w challenge. challenging women to vote. it's just a fact. when you don't vote, you don't count.

and your views are not takens into consideration. so thank you, carmen, for bringing us together for this challenge. and it's so important. at the time, when this happened, they said women given the right to vote. no. women weren't given anything. [laughter] women weren't given. it was women fought, marched, starved, were starved by their families. they did everything to be recognized. to be recognized so that women could have the right to vote. we stand on their shoulders. so, we have to continue to fight for equal pay, for equal work and lily ledbetter and all those kinds of things. and women are very much about families. and keeping families together. we do not want families separated by immigration policy, that we do not agree with.

and we don't want families separated by gun violence. that is why it is an honor to be here with mardie scott. she's turned the grief of her son's murder into a decades' long fight to confront the tragedy of gun violence. you are such an incredible leader. thank you for inspiring us so. [applause] especially today. just this morning we lost a cherished member of our community. brother juno. we need the voices of america's women so that -- so that when we take power, we will pass laws that will protect and keep families together, not separated by gun violence. and i'm glad that supervisor catherine stefani, who worked so much on this gun issue before becoming a supervisor. so very, very important. so, votes matter.

because it determines policy and policy matters. thank you, again. i know when we leave here, we'll march over there to the library and have a seminar on how women can be more appointed to commissions and boards and elective office and the rest so i thought i'd tell you this story. it was a long time ago. my children were little and i was in my home, getting ready for dinner. and i get a call from the mayor of san francisco. he says what are you doing, nancy, making a big pot of pasta? [laughter] i said no, mayor, i'm reading the "new york times". [laughter] but here's the point. he called to ask me, because my kids and i always volunteered at the san francisco library. where you're going next. he said i know you love the library where you serve and calling to apoint you as a library commissioner.

he says that's ok, mr. mayor, i'll do the work without being a commissioner. we love the library. we'll just go do that. now he was not known as a great femininist, but he did say never say that. no man would say that. get official recognition for what you do. [applause] official recognition for what you do. it was true then. it's true now. hi, chief. but the point was i -- i really thought, well, we're going to volunteer anyway. but when you get on a commission, you have a vote. people want to know what you think. we started bringing our commission meetings into the neighborhood. i was a big thing. you can make a difference with

your fresh, new ideas, especially realising how bringing it closer to home was important to families. so i'm so happy that there will be even now a need but also an opportunity for women to learn more about why it is important that they get official recognition for what they do. who knows? library commissioner, speaker of the house. who knows? [applause] so in any event, proud to recognize a city that recognizes the power of women. when we talk about a vote on a commission, or a vote at the polls, that is's really important. so thank you, carmen, for bringing us together for the w challenge. there is nothing more wholesome for our country, for our political process, for our government than the increased

participation of women in leadership in the political system. we owe it to the suffragettes, that's why i wore purple and white, we owe it to the suffragettes standing on their shoulders to advance the cause even further. thank you all very much. [applause] >> she is and always will be our leader. >> yes! [applause] >> speaking of folks to recognize, i want to make sure that i'm recognizing the league of women voters of san francisco and, of course t department of status of women lead by my co-sponsors in this. there will be many more people join us and i'll recognize you as we go. i wanted to make sure to bring up our mayor, london breed. this next person, i think, needs no introduction. she seems to rise to every single challenge thrown in her way. as a young girl, she was raised by her grandmother. she grew up in public housing.

she chanding herself to make history. our city's newest mayor, mayor london breed. [applause] >> here in san francisco, we are so fortunate. we have some of the most amazing leaders anywhere. they just all happen to be women. [laughter] leader pelosi, paving the way, fighting the good fight in washington, d.c. every single day. a challenge against a terrible president. she stands tall, she stands proud, she stands fearless, while she simultaneously stir ago pot of pasta. [laughter] that is our leader. amazing, fearless and standing strong. and yes, carmen, too, i accept the w challenge.

because it shouldn't take more than 30 years to elect the second woman mayor of the city and county of san francisco. [applause] here in our city, we have a woman mayor. we have a woman president of the board of supervisors with seven of the 11 members that are women. the presiding judge here in san francisco is a woman. so many leaders, our city administrator. so many incredible people. in fact, my first two major appointments, district five supervisor valley brown, a woman, ivy league to the community college board, a woman. women who get the job done. women who focus on doing the work. and let me be clear, to all the men -- we still love and need you. [laughter] trust and believe that. but we are so fortunate that so many incredible women

commissioners, so many incredible women step up to the plate and run for office and put themselves out there to do what's necessary to get the job done. but we have more work to do. we all know the challenges of what we face here in the city and county of san francisco. the conversations around mental illness, the conversations around substance abuse, the things we need to do to build more housing. we know we have work to do. which is why we have to do everything we can to get women registered to vote, to get out the vote, to elect women, appoint women and do all we can to support one another. and it won't be easy. but we can get the job done. behind me, i can name so many amazing women. commander manocks who basically was a captain at northern police station and is now commander in the police department. maddie scott who was mentioned earlier. other commissioners and people

who continue to step up to the plate and lead and do the right thing on behalf of the residents of our city and our country. we are definitely a place of wealth of knowledge and incredible women. and today as we celebrate women equality day, we need to think about what we need to do to work harder to get the a better place. we have work to go. women, let's get it done. thank you. speaking of love to ours allies, i do want to recognize supervisor asafai who joined us today. he will be speaking -- he is hanging out with the girls up here. he is going to be speaking at the panel later. so, we want to, of course, welcome him and thank him for joining us. our small business commissioner sonya malara and our city administrator, our chief and many, many others who are here.

the next speaker is an amazing, amazing legislator. she shows gults and courage. she walks across the aisle to pass policies to build more housing for working families. she's done so much and brought news to the city. good news. to expand parenttal benefits but also lactation policies here locally in san francisco. it truly is a model for the nation and i want to welcome supervisor katie tang up to the podium. [applause] >> thank you so much, assessor chu. her entire team. the department of status of women and i want to thank her sister, cindy, also. she designed this fabulous logo here that has a lot of meaning behind it for this w challenge. so thank you, cindy. i was actually just talking to my friend viva. i don't know if she is still here, but from the school district. one thing -- yes. there is viva. so one thing that i definitely want to do and work with her in the school district on is that now we can also preregister our young students to be able to

vote. so we want to do that for 16, 17-year-olds and begin them on an early path to remember to vote. now when carmen brought this challenge to us, there was a statistic that was shared, which was that california ranks third in terms of the top number of women who are not registered to vote. right? that is hard to believe. i didn't know that before. and that is a statistic that i do not think that californians want to be a part of. we don't want to rank high on that. let's change the landscape of that. a lot has been said about the importance of getting people to vote. let's get out there and thank you for bringing attention to this. because we all know we have to do this. but you have to be hit over the head to be reminded about it. thank you, carmen. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor tang. some more folks who have joined us, of course. commissioner julie su, claudine chang, darlene chu, ecology general manager minna tau. this is pretty important.

we have a woman leading a general manager. and ben rosen sf*eld here as well. [applause] thank you very much for being here. our next speaker is a leader in common sense gun control laws far before she was ever a legislator here in san francisco. something that is much too important for our communities. she is someone who is a steadfast person to lead the -- her commitment to creating safe communities for all of our families. i want to welcome one of our newest members of the board of supervisors, supervisor catherine stefani. [applause] >> thank you, carmen. i, too, accept the w challenge. it is an honor to be here with so many incredible women. leader pelosi. my sister mayor london breed. supervisor katie tang and so many other incredible women and

our men, too, that help us along the way. i was thinking the other day, you know, my daughter. she is 9 years old and she is absolutely obsessed with justice ruth bader ginsburg and every night she reads out of this little blue boo, that says there is no truth without ruth. and we were talking about the challenges that we face and sometimes how it is really hard to overcome like what we see on the streets with homelessness and mental illness and how we have to work so incredibly hard at these issues. and we were talking about the women's right to vote and how long that took. it took us over 100 years. we didn't just get the right to vote, we had to really work so hard for that right to vote. and 98 years later, we're still fighting for equal representation and equal pay and equal treatments. so, you know, for my 9-year-old daughter, these are lessons that we talk about every night. and it's one of the reasons why i picked up legislation that supervisor farrell was sponsoring, which is to have

more of our female represented in our public art. we want women -- we want more symbols of women for our children to look up to. and one of the reasons why we are, you know, putting forward a statue of dr. maya angelou. it's something that i'm looking forward to doing and we'll be doing that this fall. one other thing i was thinking about, too. on -- i'll never forget. january 4, 2007. i was on the treadmill at the j.c.c. watching leader pelosi and then congresswoman pelosi being sworn in as the first woman to become the speaker of the house. and i was on that treadmill for like two hours. i have to thank you for that workout. [laughter] because i could not stop watching and i will never forget when she was there with all the children around her and she said the house will come to order with the gavel. and then two years later, i was in emerge. i was in my emerge class at the

california democratic convention and speaker pelosi was there. and we had signs that said madame speaker and i was pregnant with my daughter gigi. you know, she is 9 now and she is watching me in my role as supervisor. she's watching me run for office. and she is watching me do it in a pants suit. and i say that because even in my time when i was a trial lawyer, i was told that i needed to wear skirts to trial. even in my time. so, i'm happy that my daughter gets to see me do all of this in a pantsuit because it does matter. because nancy mali the d.a. in alameda county said if you are not at the table -- [traffic going by] if you are not at the table, you're not on the menu. if you are not at the table, they are talk about reproductive rights without you. if you are not at the table, they are talking about child

care and access to education and health care without you. you have to vote, you have to encourage your friends to vote and you have to run for office if you are a woman. i am so excited to be here today anja wait to vote on november 6 and i can't wait to cast a vote for myself. thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> if i lived in district two, i would, too. to close out on our challenge, again i just want to encourage everybody to remember, pleases go to wchallenge.org, sign up, pledge to vote. pledge to bring one more woman to the polls with you. register one more woman to go vote. it really does matter. please make sure to do that. to close out again, i want to invite our wonderful partners. debbie meso, the president on the status of women as well as leah edwards. [applause] i just wanted to say quickly

that i'm inviting everyone on november 6 to ladies's night because i know that when women vote, women control the agenda. when women control the agenda, we'll have equal pay. we'll have paid leave. we'll have more women ascending in leadership, just like our great women leaders here. i really want to thank our great assessor carmen chu for issuing this challenge. i, too, accept it. i want to thank london breed. she talked about her first appointment as a woman. we salute her and appreciate that and our great leader nancy pelosi who's done so much for women in this city. thank you so much for coming and assessor chu for this challenge. [applause] >> hello, everyone. thank you so much to everyone for being here today. my name is leah edwards. i'm with the league of women voters of san francisco and we're honored to be a part of this collaboration for women's equality day. securing -- women's equality day is really, really important

because it commemorates the adoption of a 19th amendment nearly 100 years ago when women first secured the right to vote. securing this right was not easy. it took 75 years of fighting and ultimately was only made possible by tens of thousands of women who organized and advocated that half the population could have their voice heard. while this might seem like it was a long time ago, citizens across the country continue to face barriers to voting in the form of voter i.d. law, reduced voting hours and purging voters from voting rolls. there's still a lot more work to be done to ensure that everybody is able to exercise their right to vote. while voting remains a national problem, low turnout is perhapss a greater one. there are millions of people who are registered to vote but don't ultimately cast their ballots for many reasons. in the last election in san francisco in june 2018, voter turnout was 56.2%. so there's still a huge opportunity to get everyone out

to the polls and voting. that is why we are here today to urge each of you to vote, to get a friend to vote and to make sure that your voice is heard in the upcoming election. voting isn't -- is one of many ways to become civickically engaged. in the meantime, we urge you to take part in the w challenge. like i said, it's really easy. you just get a vote, gate friend to vote and help share your story and i would like to kick this off by inviting carmen chu to be the first to sign the pledge. thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> i'll be the second. >> second.

>> as women leaders are signing the pledge, i would like to take this opportunity to thank the partner organizations to help put this together and reaching every community in the city. and i also want everyone to wait a little bit. we'll take a big group picture with the pledge together as a way to say that we accept the challenge collectively. so the partner organizations we would like to recognize are the san francisco women's political committee. women's march bay area. the women's building. san francisco democratic women in action. ignite. la casina. community youth center. our own office of transgender initiatives. the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs. recology. richmond district neighborhood center. the jewish community relations council.

bayview hunters point ymca. chinatown ymca. diamond heights community association board. south beach. leadership s.f., outward bound california. senior and disability action. and we also want to recognize commissioner andrea shorter also with us today. so -- [cheering] [applause] with that, we're going to be closing with carmen and we're going to get the big picture together. >> thank you, everybody, for coming. please sign up for the w challenge. you don't haves to be a woman to sign up for the w challenge. all you have to do is pledge to vote. get one more woman to register to vote and come with you to the polls. thank you so much.

>> good morning. good morning! all right. i am mohammed nuru. i serve as a city's director of public works. and the chairman of the transbay joint powers authority board of directors. on behalf of our board, i want to welcome you to the salesforce transit centre and the salesforce park. i will also be introducing you today to our masters of ceremony. the former mayor, willie brown, in a few moments to begin the program. before that, i want to start by personally thanking all of you for coming. u